Gboegb mitchell



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE MITCHELL, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

FLOATING BAG.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4l,632,datcd February 16, 1864.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE MiToHELL, of London, in the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Floating Bags; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section of my invention, taken in the plane indicated by the line :c x, Eig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan or top View of the bag when open. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section ot' the same when closed.

Similar letters of reference in the three views indicate corresponding parts.

The object of this invention is to produce a bag for carrying letters or papers ot' value, or for the mails in general, which can be readily closed, and which when closed will be perfectly water-tight, and form a safe protection for its contents when it happens to drop in the water or to be exposed to moisture or wet in any other manner.

The nature ot' my invention and its peculiar advantages will be readily understood from the following description: A represents a bag made of vulcanized india-rubber, guttapercha, or other flexible material impervious to water. The bag may be of any convenient size suitable for containing letters, papers, and other small parcels, with a straight mouth, as shown in the'drawings, or of such other shape, either square or curved, as may be found desirable.

The flexible material constituting the bag is firmly secured at its mouth to two met-al jaws, B B, of a length corresponding to the width of the bag, about one and one-fourth inch in width and one-fourth of an inch in thickness, rabbeted on the outside, or provided with a recess, f, as shown in Fig. 3, to accom-4 modate the increased thickness of the material in the mouth of the bag.

The jaws B are secured to the bag by means of rivets c, of copper or any other suitable material, the heads of which are countersunk on the outside of thejaws flush wit-h the surface. The heads-on the inside may be covered by a strip of india-rubber to exclude the water, and said rivets pass through the thickest portion or seam at the mouth of the bag and through the rabbeted portion of the j aws. Said rivets do not extend to the ends of the jaws, giving a chance to the bag to be opened to the desi-red distance and still enabling the jaws to firmly compress and close the mouth of the bag.

For the purpose of closing and securing the mouth of the bag I use two or more screwbolts, C C, passing through both jaws and terminating at one end in eyeholes d, for the introduction of a chain or strap, D, with a padlock attached to the end, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The heads of said screwbolts, which are furnished with the eyeholes d, are fiat and square, and they pass through corresponding slots in one of the jaws, so that, after the heads have been passed through said slots, by turning the screwbolts the shoulders ot' the heads catch over the edges of the slots and the bag is closed. In order to open the same the heads have to be turned back in line with the slots, and as long as the turning of said heads is prevented by the chain or strap passing through t-he eye-holes the bag cannot beopened.

After the heads of the screw-bolts have been passed through the slots and turned, as previously described, the joint is rendered airtight by screwing up the nuts e In doing so those portions of thejaws which are not rabbeted are firmly compressed, and, bythe india-rubber or gutta-percha forming a packing between them, a perfectly-tight j ointis effected throughout the ent-ire length ot' t-he jaws, 'and the bag is closed.

It must be remarked that instead of the eyebolts and chain or strap bolts with diiierent heads and different means for locking them may be employed.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Thc jaws B, when the same are provided with a recess, f, and secured to the mouth ot' the bag A b v rivets c, which do not extend to the ends of the jaws, in combination with the screw-bolts C, or their equivalents, applied and operating as and for the purpose set forth.

GEORGE MITCHELL.

Vitntsses:

It. PENrsroN, ALLAN S. CLARE. 

